Rogue smells 'Blood,' nabs rights

Empty

Rogue Pictures pre-emptively bought film rights to an upcoming vampire comic book titled "Blood on the Tracks," setting Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon to write and direct the adaptation.

Michael Zoumas is on board to produce via his Zoom Entertainment, while Barry Levine is producing via his newly formed company Blatant Pictures.

"Blood" revolves around a series of killings in the New York subway system. While at first it is thought to be the work of a serial killer, it later is revealed that the murders are the work of a vampire who has been living in the tunnels of the city from the days when it was still New Amsterdam.

CAA agent John Levin, who reps Levine's company, came up with the initial concept and pitched it to Levine. Levine was setting up a comic book company named Radical Comics that also would produce movies via an arm called Blatant Pictures. He took it to author/comic writer David Tischman, who shares co-creator credit. Tischman will exec produce. Phillip Bond will do the art for the comic.

Zoumas, whose Zoom has a producing deal at Rogue, partnered with Levine in the early stages and brought it to Dela Llana and Gamazon. The filmmakers helped develop some of the story's mythology.

Radical, which in addition to Levine includes principals Jesse Berger, Noli McCool and Brent Johnson, will publish its first two comics in June, "Blood" being one of them. Image Comics is the company's publishing partner.

Rogue execs Allex Heineman and Andrew Deutchmann are overseeing.

Dela Llana and Gamazon wrote and directed "Cavite," a thriller set in the Philippines that earned the duo the Someone to Watch Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. The movie, made for $7,000, was released by Magnolia Pictures.